


Hell on Earth

by SwoodMaxProductions



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Child Death Mention, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flashbacks, Gen, Genocide, Good Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda), Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Induced Sleep, Minor Character Death, Pain, Panic Attacks, Passing Out, Past Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Public Execution/Torture, Rescue, Survivor Guilt, Torture, Trauma, Whump, somewhat AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:00:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23488711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwoodMaxProductions/pseuds/SwoodMaxProductions
Summary: (Bad Things Happen Bingo, prompt: Public Execution/Torture)During a trip to the Gerudo fort-town of Molduga’s End, the Triforce bearers’ portal is tampered with, stranding Twilight Princess’s Ganondorf in the absolute last place he would ever want to be: the infamous Arbiter’s Grounds.
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1500902
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	Hell on Earth

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, I’m back with more Ganondorf content!

_ No. _

The portal had been intercepted, and Ganondorf had not arrived at the fortified town of Molduga’s End with the others. But the moment he looked up, he knew EXACTLY where he was— and his blood ran cold.

_ No no no no no no NO NO NO NO! _

The statues gazed down at him out of the gloom, silent sentinels defiled with the rest of the Great Saqaar Necropolis. They, as well as he, had bore witness to the depravity and horror committed by the Hylians at this place they called the Arbiter’s Grounds. 

_ NO! NO! NO! _

Ganondorf ran. The spirits of the desecrated dead were still crying out as he fumbled through the darkness. He had to get out of here.

_ They had fought as no warriors had fought before. But the full force of the Hyrulean military had taken its toll on the few hundred Gerudo. They knew that they would fall here. But as long as they bought enough time for the Fortress to be evacuated… _

_ Liya, loyal to the end, fell beside him, her body riddled with arrows as her last few heartbeats emptied her blood into the sand. Ganondorf knew he didn’t have much longer before he joined her. His lightning ripped through the Hylian ranks, expending the last of his energy.  _

_ The destruction only slowed the Hylians down.  _

_ Ganondorf was already falling. Wounded, exhausted beyond words, he was on his hands and knees, gasping for breath as his vision blurred at the feet of the Hyrulean army, awaiting death. But death never came. Unconsciousness, however, did.  _

_ He didn’t know how long he faded in and out. Things got heavier. Chains. He was chained. They wanted him alive. It was the last thing he realized before a Hylian officer took notice of him and his overly-polished boot ensured the next time Ganondorf woke, it was with a concussion. _

He had to get out of here. He had to get out of here. Ganondorf had lost track of which screams came from the restless dead and which ones came from his memories of the dying. He just kept going. He had to keep going. He had to get out of here!

Ganondorf’s internal mantras were interrupted by the floor abruptly crumbling, sending him screaming into a pit that was not only filled with sand, but BONES. Bones of adults and even children, a mass grave dug by uncaring Hylians and abandoned. 

Even the sound of his own voice seemed distant now, the tension in every muscle feeling as though it were choking the life out of him as he clawed his way free, unable to levitate properly with his mind swarming and overflowing with the memories—

_ The distant voice of a soldier promising to spare a child in exchange for sexual favors, the searing pain as the brand was pressed into his skin, helpless as the Hylians taunted him, as his people he had fought so hard to save were slaughtered like animals— _

Every breath was like fire in his lungs. He’d been running for so long. 

_ He was shoved back into his cell, hands chained behind his back, unable to break his own fall before the white-hot explosion of pain, a broken nose to go with the fresh whip gashes as the guards laughed. _

_ An assembly of Hylian nobles and priests in the stands like grinning vultures as he was paraded out to the sound of yet another fucking Hylian proudly lying through their teeth about the people they had been torturing and killing.  _

_ A blade thrust through his chest as the bastards cheered. Passing out. Rage. The cheers turning to screams. The screams becoming his own. Passing out again. _

“You were a fool to fight it.”

Ganondorf froze. The gloom itself was coalescing, filling the corridor. A vast humanoid shape advanced, grinning savagely, out of the blackness. It lashed out with impossible speed, with claws that were all too real as they drew blood. There was no follow-up. Like a cat with a cornered mouse. The screams only grew louder, so loud now they hurt, as Ganondorf fought to escape the omnipresent creature already inside him.

~~~

“GANONDORF!”

There was no response but her own echo as Zelda and her small search party frantically scoured the ancient catacombs. He’d been right. Right about her ancestors. Right about their crimes. Golden Goddesses, where was he…!

“HE’S IN HERE!”

Zelda’s heart leapt as she made a mad dash toward the sound of Impa’s voice.

She was not prepared for what she found.

Ganondorf was huddled with is back pressed desperately against the wall, wheezing as he held a flame in one hand and an unidentified injury on his abdomen with the other. His eyes blazed with delirium, and… tears…?

“ **DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME YOU SCALY SON OF A BITCH!** ”

“G-Ganondorf…?! It’s us…!”

“Wh...?!”

He stared into Zelda’s soul like he was doubting she was real. She showed him her empty palms as she cautiously approached. He pressed back against the wall harder for a moment, before recognition dawned in his eyes. The flame died out, and she took his hand, she and Impa helping him awkwardly to his feet.

“Get me out of here…” he managed to wheeze.

~~~

“It was as you’d suspected. Cia disrupted the portal. She specifically sent him into the Arbiter’s Grounds…” Zelda explained.

“ _DAMN HER!_ ”

The (seemingly) older Ganondorf shook his head after the outburst, and resumed his agitated pacing. Impa remained tense.

“She knew exactly what she was doing. Let everyone know— our Soulgate is not to be used without express clearance by anyone, under any circumstances. Check on the Mask Salesman’s progress, as well. Nothing like this should happen again. In the meantime… I will see to the Exile.”

It was for the best, and rather sweet when Zelda thought about it. The incarnations of Ganondorf, now that she was able to actually meet them, seemed like a protective sort. Especially this one, the one from the Great Sea. They knew each other’s pain…

~~~

Ganondorf the Exile was curled up in a bed but unable to sleep. He wanted nothing more than to rest, to finally sleep, but his body was still so tense that it hurt, and the screams were still ringing in his ears.

He barely looked over as Ganondorf the Antediluvian entered the room.

“Mothers insisted,” he said, showing him a bottle of what he absolutely knew was a potion for causing healing sleep.

He drank it because it would make the old bats happy, he told himself.

“We WILL make the sorceress pay,” the Antediluvian assured. 

He didn’t leave. Instead, he pulled up a chair to the Exile’s bedside.

They stayed together, in silent solidarity, a gentle, comforting hand on the Exile’s head letting him know he was still there even as he drifted away into merciful, dreamless sleep.

  
  



End file.
